Exploring the Palace
by Ecilya
Summary: It is Luke's first day at the Imperial Palace, and his father permits him to explore. Luke is prepared for the Palace, but is the Palace prepared for Luke?
Characters: Luke Skywalker/Darth Vader
Genre: Family
Disclaimer: Here we go again. Star Wars is owned by George Lucas, not me, and I did not and will not make any money by writing this fanfic. It is only for entertainment.
Notes: This is a sequel to Afraid of the Dark. If you haven't read Afraid of the Dark, you might want to, as this one follows directly after it.I'd appreciate reviewing! (but no flaming, please)
By the way, this story is completed.
Idea partially from some of SophieAnnWard's Luke/Vader fics.
Exploring the Palace
Chapter 1
It was morning, and a beam of sunlight was managing to find its way into Luke's room through the black curtains. A tuft of blonde hair appeared from underneath the bedsheets, followed by two bright blue eyes. Rolling himself out of bed, Luke looked around the dark, intimidating room and immediately pulled the curtains farther apart.
"That's better," he sighed to himself as sunlight flooded in. "Not as bright as Tatooine, but it'll do." Then he noticed tons of clothes loading a nearby chair. The service droid must have brought them up sometime this morning.
He suddenly recalled the events of the day before and dashed into the refresher to get ready as quickly as he could. He wanted to spend all day with his newly–found father.
Meanwhile, in a conference room down the hall, Lord Vader was drowning in paperwork. Datapads were spread over the entire table – a consequence of the Kiethin invasion – and it was his job to sort it out. Why the Emperor had decided to give him this task, Vader did not know.
There are a few captains I can think of who could accomplish this chore quite easily. Vader grumbled to himself. As for me, I have more important things to attend to.
A sudden ripple through the Force brought his mind back to a much more serious issue: his son. He had obviously just woken up.
Vader decided to comm. Luke to tell him where he was. "Luke. Luke."
"Father! Morning!"
"Good morning, son. If you need me, I will be in the conference room. It is three doors down, on the left. Do you think yourself capable of finding it?"
"'Course. See you in a few minutes!"
Vader closed the comm. link and wondered if giving his son directions was such a good idea. His worries seemed unfounded, however, when Luke came skidding into the conference room a little bit later.
"Hi, Father!"
The Dark Lord's gaze was immediately drawn to Luke's socks, the only white thing in the room. "Luke, where are your shoes?"
Luke followed his father's sight down to his feet and then looked back up at him. "You mean I've gotta wear shoes in my own home?" he asked incredulously.
"Son, this might be your new residence, but it is also the Imperial Palace. You must wear shoes at all times."
For a few moments, Vader's respirator was the only sound heard. Then a heavy sigh from Luke echoed through the room. "Okay, I'll put my shoes on." Before he left, however, his sight was drawn to a large picture on the wall of a hooded man. From what he could see under the hood, the man was all wrinkly with weird yellow eyes. "Father, who's that?"
Vader stared at the image of his master for a moment. "That is Emperor Palpatine."
Luke wrinkled his nose. "He looks real yucky!"
"Son!" Behind the mask, Vader's eyes widened. "Be careful what you say!" The last thing that needed to be added to his pile of work was freeing his son from jail for disloyalty. A few other feelings on the matter surfaced, but he denied himself such. "I will come with you to your room. There are some things I wish to show you."
Once in Luke's room, Vader showed him the workings of the computer console. "This button is to call a droid. They will bring you anything you need, take your laundry out, and bring you your meals."
"What's this one?" Luke seemed to be getting a little impatient.
"That one is the comm. link. And these two are for the Compunet and the Holovid. I believe that covers everything. Have you had something to eat yet?"
Luke shook his head.
"What would you like?"
Vader was surprised at how wide his son's eyes became. "You mean I can have anything I want to eat?"
"Within reason, but for the most part, yes."
"Wow!"
After receiving the order, Vader put it through the service droids. "Send that up to my sector, room ten. Have Ceethreepio and Artoo–Detoo deliver it."
Luke was sitting on his bed; Vader sat down in the nearest chair. "Who are they?"
"They are my personal droids. If you ever need help with anything, you can call them and they will assist you. I want you to get acquainted."
"'Kay." He pressed his eyebrows together in thought. "Father?"
"Yes?"
"What does "acquainted" mean?"
Vader had forgotten that his son didn't know what every word meant. "It means to get to know personally."
"Oh, so you want me to meet them."
Vader nodded in approval.
While they waited for the droids, Vader noticed his son giving him curious looks. "Is something wrong, Luke?"
"Well, not really. I mean, I was wondering – why do you wear that mask and make that funny breathing sound?"
The question stunned Vader. How am I supposed to answer? Should Luke know yet? "Well, son, I–" He was considering exactly how to describe this situation when a buzz sounded at the door. "I believe your breakfast is here."
The door opened a moment later. "Hello, Master Vader." Threepio walked in, followed by Artoo, who was carrying a tray with pincers on his dome. The little droid whistled a greeting.
"Threepio, this is my son, Luke. You will be taking commands from him also. And you as well, Artoo."
"Hi," Luke greeted the droids. Artoo chirped and wheeled the tray over to him. Luke accepted quickly. "Thanks, little guy."
Threepio turned to Luke. "Greetings! I am Ceethreepio, human–cyborg relations, and this is my counterpart Artoo–Detoo. Our services are at your disposal, Master Luke."
"Let me finish breakfast and then we can get started."
Hope you enjoyed the first chapter! This short story has three chapters, because when I tried to fit it together in one it didn't turn out too great. Besides, there is so much to this story that it needs a good lot of space to present itself.
Please review!
–Ecilya